Archive for law – Page 3

First, let’s start with some fax humor… because you don’t see fax humor very often!

During football watching on Sunday afternoon, multiple times a FedEx television commercial ran from a supposed Conspiracy Bookstore. The employees in the commercial were explaining their theories on a recent hike in online book sales. It wasn’t funny the first time. Not funny the 20th time; which might explain why you don’t remember it.

One of the employees credits galactic entities for buying all the books to conceal their alien secrets. The other worker credits FedEx because of their affordable deliveries. The FedEx guy just shrugs at the conspiracy theory.

By the way, do you buy into the conspiracy of Apple slowing down old phones with their constant updates? For several years, the Internet has been warning (as I use the Internet like a person identifier) that Apple keeps sending updates, to cause your old phone to slow down enough to irritate you and make you buy the new phone.

All I know is that I am tired of having constantly being asked by my phone and iPad whether I want to download my update now or at midnight. No is my answer. I was perfectly happy with my phone and iPad until your constant pestering. But I digress!

The real conspiracy that recently grabbed my attention (Reuters News) relates to a pharmaceutical company. The New Jersey Attorney General has accused Insys Therapeutics of engaging in a fraudulent scheme to boost the sales of their fentanyl-based cancer pain drug. Recently, Massachusetts announced a $500,000 settlement with Insys to resolve similar allegations.

The New Jersey attorney is claiming that the drug company had created a fraud scheme to encourage the prescriptions of a fentanyl-based pain medication, usually reserved for cancer patients. The intent was to get doctors to prescribe it broadly to many of their patients; not just those suffering great pain.

The New Jersey filed lawsuit alleges that Insys paid kickbacks to doctors, including sham speaker fees to induce them to prescribe the drug, defraud insurance companies into paying for it.

The lawsuit states that Insys’ greed put hundreds of lives in jeopardy and led to the 2016 overdose death of a New Jersey woman, who was prescribed a fentanyl-based medication to treat fibromyalgia. “The conduct alleged in our lawsuit is nothing short of evil,” Porrino said in a statement.

The NJ lawsuit was filed on the heels of the Massachusetts Attorney General Healy announcing that Insys would pay $500,000 to resolve similar allegations of schemes and kickbacks. (Doesn’t sound like much of a punishment. Right?) The political rhetoric would lead us to believe that this drug company is just plain evil and needs real punishment.

“Fentanyl is a powerful and highly addictive drug with deadly consequences, yet this opioid maker aggressively marketed its product and made illegal payments to providers to boost sales,” Healey said in a statement.

Now that’s what I call a conspiracy. Just not one that really surprises me.

And finally for pic o’ day, here’s one from the past that always makes me laugh. Some explanation for that conspiracy?

The World Health Organization tells us that every 8 seconds, someone dies from tobacco use. Cigarettes cause more than one-in-five American deaths. Yet, people continue to smoke. They don’t consult statistics to determine whether they should start smoking; and they don’t continue because of them.

Where are we going to eat tonight? On any given night, that’s said in many households. How often do you think that someone then picks up their iPad and looks up recent health inspection reports, to determine if their choice of restaurant that night is a good place to go? A restaurant health inspection typically does not go into that restaurant decision process.

It’s very easy to look at neighborhood crime statistics, to determine how safe a neighborhood might be. When did you last Google the crime statistics for your neighborhood. Or, how often does a realtor hand crime statistics for a geographical area, when showing a house to a potential buyer? It makes me wonder (as I type this) why I haven’t.

So here is another consideration on statistics. Shaina, a paralegal in our Virginia Beach office, forwarded this article from WAVY-TV, about car crashes where you live. If you knew that more crashes occur at specific intersections throughout Virginia, would it cause you to be more careful at those locations?

Educating drivers is an important part of crash prevention,” said DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb, the Governor’s Highway Safety Representative. “This new feature allows Virginians to see where crashes occur most in their neighborhoods and the factors causing those crashes. With this information, you might use extra caution when traveling through a particular intersection or remind a new driver of the hazards of driving at an unsafe speed on a road near your home where speed-related crashes happen regularly”.

Obviously, the DMV Commissioner thinks that statistics and knowledge will affect our driving. According to the article, the data provided gives a breakdown of high crash locations in the state of Virginia. Of all non-interstate crashes in 2016, 7 of the 10 top locations were in the Hampton Roads area. Would that mean that someone right now is saying, “Best not drive in Hampton Roads”?… said no one anywhere!

Still…the greatest commodity is information!

And for pic o’ day, some motivation of no limitation! Or… be what you want to be?

I took Greek as my foreign language in high school. Now, it’s all a distant memory and doesn’t even help me order a good Greek salad. Boom.

But I was excited to learn (excited is probably a bit exaggerated) that the word television originates from a Greek word meaning far; and a Latin word meaning to see.

Somehow I felt that I should just throw that in after all the excitement yesterday during the eclipse. I did go out and look up with my official NASA- issued eclipse glasses. Sure it was exciting! But how disappointing, if you thought you were going outside to get an eclair… just food for thought. (see what I did there)

But I was very careful to make sure I never looked up. I took it seriously. Kinda like this:

Yes, I am on a roll. Of course, I might become a roll if I keep eating Nancy’s carrot cake. She brought her special carrot cake yesterday, because of my birthday last week. It was absolutely amazing. And of course, carrot cake is good for your eyes; which is important if you make the mistake of looking at the eclipse. See, everything ties together in the blog today!

Which brings me to the final thought on vision and seeing what is to be seen. I was at the hospital last week, visiting a family member. There was a “portly-looking fella” (yes, I am trying to be kind) who was walking around in a jumbo-sized (probably not kind?) t-shirt that read Trust me, I’m a lawyer.

Could he possibly have been a lawyer? Was he trying to solicit business? (In Virginia, you cannot solicit business in person. Plus, this guy certainly was in no shape to chase an ambulance. Just a thought)

We all know that obesity is a problem. Now, we’re told that just sitting and working at a desk is much like smoking for your health. But from Telegraph.com comes another “health issue”. The article is titled Loneliness is Deadlier than Obesity.

Researchers in more than 200 studies evaluated the health effects of social isolation and loneliness. The studies evaluated four million people.

Their findings connect loneliness to length of life. The primary finding: lonely people had a 50% increased risk of early death, compared to those who had relationships. As a comparison, obesity raises the chance of dying before the age of 70 by around 30%.

Lead researcher, Dr. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University, Utah, advises that the study shows that people should be preparing for retirement socially, just as they prepare financially. For most, the workplace is their biggest source of companionship. I think that’s a great response to those who think that people that are injured on the job, don’t want to get back to work.

According to Holt-Lunstad, “Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need—crucial to both well-being and survival. Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment. As she noted, “Yet an increasing portion of the population now experiences isolation regularly.”

Campaign To End Loneliness states that 17 per cent of the elderly see friends, family and neighbors less than once a week, while one in 10 may see more that one month pass without seeing any loved ones.

There was a time that people would walk next door to get a cup-of sugar and spend some time on the neighbors porch. (At least you see that in the movies, right?) Now, Facebook, email, Instagram and other methods on the Internet have become the preferred way of staying in touch. Just a thought of our reality.

Some ways in combating loneliness include making a habit of helping others and staying connected. Proverbs 18:24 tells us that “For a man to have friends, he must show himself friendly“. (Be Friendly)

Unfortunately, I see some clients who are hurting and isolated and don’t feel like connecting with others. Emotional trauma from a car crash can ultimately lead to isolation. Being alone doesn’t necessarily mean loneliness. I think that loneliness really comes from not feeling valued by someone else.

PilotOnline and U.S. News bring us one of those stories that just grips you in a very sad way. Not normally what I would write about on a Friday, but it is thought-provoking.

Last Friday, Rebekah and Austin Wesson left the courthouse in Wichita, Kansas after just getting married. The 19-year-old newlyweds could not stop smiling.

“I’m Mrs. Wesson,” Rebekah Wesson kept saying. Here is a picture of the couple that shows their happiness and hope of a wonderful future together:

On Saturday, one day after becoming husband and wife, the Wessons crashed into a tree. The pickup truck that they were riding in went off a dirt road. Austin Wesson, the driver, died at the scene. Rebekah Wesson died on Monday. Now their families are planning a funeral instead of checking Facebook to see their smiling faces on their honeymoon.

For some reason, while reading the article, I can’t help but keep looking at their picture. It causes me to ask myself, “what were they thinking in this picture”. I also think about how sad this is.

But here is the point of this blog. It’s what psychologists say that many of us do when we see bad news or bad things that happen to other people. This couldn’t happen to me!

It is the psychological principle that causes a person to believe that they are at a lesser risk of experiencing a bad event, as compared to others.

This blog isn’t counter to the power of prayer or the will of God. Instead, looking at this happy couple is a good reminder that bad things do happen. In the meantime, it’s up to us to exercise good behavior habits. It’s why a person might smoke. Or, why someone might be obese and continue to eat mass quantities.

It’s hard to alter bad behavior and eliminate risk. It goes against the optimism bias. The converse is reality. I remember when I sold Harley-Davidson motorcycles to put myself through law school. Invariably, I would hand the keys and paperwork to a new buyer and comment that I knew they would ride safely… but be careful of other drivers. No optimism can change negligence of someone else!

After that blog… I feel like I need something to pick us up a bit. So, here’s a pic o’ that makes me smile. I hope you have a great weekend!

It’s worth a trip down history’s memory lane. It’s a picture about taking a stand:

This picture was taken at the launch of the naval vessel Horst Wessel, on June 13, 1936. If you look closely, you can see August Landmesser (wikipedia) He refused to perform the Nazi salute during this launch exercise. A subtle yet profound act of failure to conform to the Nazi party. The story is the why, and what happened next.

Landmesser had joined the Nazi Party in 1931, because of the promise of better conditions for workers. In 1934, he met and married Irma Eckler, a Jewish woman. Soon after, they had a baby girl.

This explains his attitude by not saluting Hitler, because of the Nazi stance on Jews. Failure to do so with the possibility of being noticed was publicly rebelling, and possibly leading to signing your own death certificate.

In 1937, they attempted to flee to Denmark but were apprehended. Because he was married to a Jew, he was charged and found guilty in 1937 of “dishonoring the race” because of Nazi racial laws.

He initially was able to argue that neither he nor his wife knew that she was fully Jewish. With this defense, he was acquitted in 1938 for lack of evidence. However, he was warned that a repeat offense would result in a conviction and multi-year prison sentence.

Much like his public display of rebellion, the couple continued their relationship. He was arrested again, and this time sentenced to two and a half years in a concentration camp. He never saw his wife or family again.

After serving his time, he was drafted back into the army and ultimately lost his life in a battle in Croatia in 1944. Earlier, his wife was detained by the Gestapo and then sent to a prison camp. There, she gave birth to their second child. Records show that she ultimately was killed in a concentration camp in 1942.

In 1951, post World War II, their marriage was recognized retroactively by the Senate of Hamburg. The two daughters were put in foster care and reached adulthood. In 1996, one daughter wrote a book to highlight her parents’ lives as well as point out the importance of her father’s photograph.

Before jumping to the finality of our pic o’ day at the bottom, I wanted to just look back again at the courage of this man. Surely at the time of the photograph, he was already aware of the Nazi propaganda machine; and the probability that his non-loyalty picture would show up. At that time, it appears that all that mattered was his love.

Before we discuss, let me present this brief commercial on political donations:

Dow Chemicals spent over 13.6 million dollars on lobbying in 2016. Dow gave one million dollars to the President’s inauguration committee. Dow Chief Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris was appointed by President Trump to lead the President’s Advisory Council on Manufacturing.

President Trump is on record as saying that he wants to reduce regulations. He suggests the 2-for-1 method. For every new regulation enacted by such agencies as the EPA, there must be 2 old regulations eliminated. That serves as a backdrop to a recently filed lawsuit.

This story from the Los Angeles Times tells about a lawsuit that has been filed by several states, seeking to ban a pesticide that has been shown to harm the brains of children.

Several states (shown in the article) are claiming that Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt violated the law by ending his agency’s effort to ban a pesticide that is being sold by Dow Chemical Co., after federal scientists determined that it can interfere with the brain development of fetuses and infants.

Federal law requires the EPA to ensure that pesticides are safe for human consumption. Children can be far more sensitive to the effects of pesticides.

Health advocates have been pushing to ban chlorpyrifos. It is currently sprayed on citrus fruits, apples, and cherries. Representatives for Dow have asked the Trump administration “to set aside” the results of government studies that show that it and all the products that contain it, pose a health risk.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has now formally urged the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos. This organization, representing more than 66,000 pediatricians and pediatric surgeons, said that it is “deeply alarmed” by Pruitt’s decision to allow the pesticide’s to continue to be used.

Dow’s position is that this has been used since the 1960’s and that more studies need to be made. And that they have already made modifications on its use.

In 2015, the Obama administration proposed banning the use of pesticides with food. Companies like Dow respond that there would be harms by not using pesticides.

Do you think this is a blog to convince you that regulations are right or wrong? No… I want you to decide. Are “Tree-huggers” just overreacting? It is a balancing act to protect business, consumers, our water, and our land.

Have a great weekend!!! And don’t forget to rinse off those apples before eating them!

Prior to going to law school, I worked as a legislative aide in the Norfolk, Virginia office of Congressman William G. Whitehurst. (previously mentioned in prior blogs and my website biography)

When I started working at the office, I was impressed with some of the new technology. For instance, the Washington main office would call us with a press release. I would run over to this “amazing contraption” that included a cradle to place a phone. There, the phone in the Washington D.C. office would send a signal that would ultimately be typed out on this “slippery-feeling” paper.

One of my jobs as a Congressional aide was to run these “paper communications” to each of the television and radio news stations. It fascinated me that words over a phone could produce a document from an office that was miles away.

That advancement in technology has been replaced by many things including the fax machine and ultimately email. Is that technology like these shoes that are “coming and going”?

Which brings me to more “technology” from the 1800’s. On June 21, 1834, a young Virginian named Cyrus McCormick (Wikipedia) was granted a patent for a reaper machine. His horse-drawn reaper enable farmers to harvest more than 10 acres a day, with less workers. (From This Day In History)

Before his invention, it was all field labor with farmers out using sharp scythes, harvesting a maximum of 2-3 acres of grain per day. By 1851, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company was the largest implement factory in the world. In 1902, the company merged with other companies to form International Harvester Company. (one of the partners was J.P. Morgan)

Today, we don’t think much of the technology of a reaper because so many advancements in the machine industry have replaced it. Once again, it’s a reminder that advancements in technology will be replaced by more technology.

In the practice of law, it’s the same way. If you don’t keep striving to do it better, you will become yesterday’s way of doing it. More advances… More technology. Today, it’s rare to see a typewriter in a law office. Will paper mail some day be totally replaced. There’s always a better way to do things, to be more efficient.

Before 1859, umpires were seated in padded chairs, as they called balls and strikes behind home plate. I’m thinking that on hot summer days, they miss that “technology” of those padded chairs!

Last week, news was reported that Adam West, the first and real Batman, had passed away. He brought humor to an otherwise supposedly serious character, which is saying a lot when you consider that he and his sidekick Robin were running around in tights and a cape. It doesn’t seem like that’s the usual suit for a crime fighter.

One scene in the Batman series is a good window into the kind of show that it was. Batman walks into a nightclub and walks up to the maître d’. He asks Batman: “Ringside table?”. As usual, Batman was wearing a mask, cape and purple body suit. Despite the obvious disguise, Batman responded, “No, thanks. I’ll stand at the bar. I would not wish to be conspicuous.”

I start the blog out with that story as a nod to Adam West and also as a setup to a piece of legal history that now seems obvious. On this day in 1966, The U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Miranda v. Arizona.

Miranda had been questioned by the police, had confessed, and had signed a written statement without being told that he had a right to a lawyer. His confession was then used at trial, which led to his conviction. Ultimately, his conviction was overturned.

Chief Justice Warren wrote the controversial opinion by applying the 14th Amendment of the Constitution because everyone should have the right to speak to an attorney at critical stages of an investigation relating to their interrogation in custody, or else the “prosecution may not use statements made by a person in police custody unless certain minimum procedural safeguards were in place”. And it’s the Miranda Warning or Miranda Rights that has become legendary in television crime shows, that now seems obvious (even Batman knows):

“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand the rights I have just read to you? With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me?”

As a footnote to that opinion, Miranda was ultimately retried in 1967. This time, the prosecution did not use his confession. Instead, other evidence and witnesses were called. Miranda was convicted and sentenced to serve 20-30 years. He was paroled in 1972 and then returned to live in his old neighborhood. He went on to earn a modest living by autographing the “Miranda cards” that police were now carrying after the original opinion.

And here’s another obvious statement!

And for pic o’ day, after that legal history, here’s another thought on what to do before giving a statement?

Any information herein on this website is not formal legal advice, nor the formation of an attorney client relationship. This website is designed for general information only. The Joel Bieber Firm does offer free legal consultations to help you decide if you have a claim to pursue.